The Daytona 500 is still more than a month away, but NASCAR Sprint Cup teams will begin testing for their biggest race on Thursday. So what’s the rush?

The rush is that by this time, teams typically have a good feel for the car they will race.

Not this time. They have a new car that’s never been tested at Daytona, so the three-day “Preseason Thunder” test at Daytona International Speedway has added importance.

Drivers will do single-car runs during the morning sessions and be allowed to draft during the afternoon. They will try to learn everything they can about the new 2013 car. Only a handful of drivers tested the cars at Talladega in October so many will be getting a feel for the car.

Here are seven questions that need to be answered this week.

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1

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Does the new car resonate with fans?

NASCAR is banking on the 2013 car to generate enthusiasm for three reasons:

1. How it looks.
2. How it races.
3. How it looks.

NASCAR is banking on the new 2013 cars to generate enthusiasm for how they look and how they race. NASCAR has landed on a look for each manufacturer while its rules to create parity are still a work in progress. But in this case, how it looks might be more important, at least at first, than how it races.

Preseason Thunder typically attracts a few thousand fans that pay $20 to get into the infield fanzone, where they can stand atop the garages, peer inside the glass windows and participate in autograph and driver question-and-answer sessions after practice.

These fans need to like what they see in the new cars. For the first time since 2007, the Chevrolets look like Chevrolets. The Fords look like Fords. The Toyotas look like Toyotas.

Part of it is cosmetic — good decaling — but NASCAR and the manufacturers worked hard for aerodynamic parity with distinct body characteristics. What they got are car bodies that are completely different with the exception of the decklids.

While many of the cars will still have primer on them and not be painted with sponsor colors and logos, this will be the biggest event for fans to get their first look at the cars.

Manufacturers play a critical role in the health of the sport and Dodge bowing out after winning the Cup title last year shows that the sport must do everything it can to keep the other three committed to racing.

And with attendance and television numbers dipping, NASCAR needed something to energize the fans.

2

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Will there be more wrecks?

One of the best tests NASCAR has had with the new car was the Talladega test last October.

NASCAR used restrictor plates with holes 29/32nds of an inch in diameter and spoilers that were 4 inches tall and 53 inches wide. And those will be the parameters for Daytona, or at least where the teams will start this week.

The restrictor plates are the same as last year’s Daytona 500 but the spoiler is a half-inch taller but nine inches narrower to take into account how the air moves around in the cars.

The grille opening was decreased from 50 square inches to 40.25 square inches, making it more difficult to get air to cool the engine fluids. To compensate, the engines will spew water at about 20 degrees warmer because the radiator valve will pop off at 32psi, compared with 28psi last year. That should keep cars from overheating in the draft as easily as they did last year. The spoilers will be set at 70 degrees, the same as before.

All of this is designed to eliminate the two-car draft. But will it? What does it mean?

In some ways fans won’t know until the Daytona 500. But the test should provide hints of whether drivers will run in a huge pack and whether there is the likelihood of a 25-car crash like at the end of Talladega race last October.

There likely will be a wreck early in the Daytona 500.

As drivers will learn this week, the front and rear bumpers don’t line up as well — they are more rounded instead of square — making it easier to spin the car in front of a two-car draft.

This instability will be good and bad. It means fewer two-car drafts. But the risks are greater. Drivers will have to learn the sweet spots — without spinning — this week.

3

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Will Danica feel comfortable in the draft?

This is Danica Patrick’s first full season in Cup racing and while it’s not her first time in a Cup car at Daytona, it’s important for her to get a good feel right from the start.

Last year was a bit of a disappointment as she finished 10th in the Nationwide standings.

It was the first time a female driver finished in the top 10 in a NASCAR series but it was still below expectations of a top-five finish.

The 30-year-old Patrick, a former IndyCar star, needs a confidence boost and if she struggles at Daytona, one of the few tracks where she actually appeared comfortable in a Nationwide car, it could a long year.

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Will drivers feel comfortable with new crews?

This will be the first Daytona test for many of the new driver-crew chief combinations.

Matt Kenseth with Jason Ratcliff at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Joey Logano with Todd Gordon at Penske Racing.

Those are the two biggest driver changes. Others have new crew chiefs, such as Carl Edwards with Jimmy Fennig; Marcos Ambrose with Drew Blickensderfer; and Jeff Burton with Luke Lambert.

The biggest change is Edwards and Fennig. Edwards went from tying for the top spot in points in 2011 to not making the Chase and going winless in 2012. Meanwhile, Fennig and his crew led Kenseth to three victories so they are coming off a season where they are used to performing well. Edwards couldn’t make it work with two crew chiefs last year — maybe things had just stalled by the time Bob Osborne resigned with health issues and things never gelled with Chad Norris.

Whatever the reason, the onus will be on Edwards to make it work this time.

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Do the teams have reliable parts and pieces?

NASCAR just finished approving parts and pieces in the last couple of months and manufacturers have scrambled to get sheet metal for the teams.

Few teams will have backup cars this week, meaning that there could be some hesitancy toward drafting in huge packs.

Because so many pieces are new and unproven, a part breaking here or there would not be out of the ordinary. Let’s hope no crashes result.

Why such a late approval? It took NASCAR time to find the package it thinks will work best because each car make reacts differently depending on the track.

Which brings us to the next item …

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Who will be the first manufacturer asking for help?

NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said last month that he does expect manufacturer lobbying to return to the NASCAR hauler.

It’s been absent for the most part the last five years compared to what it used to be, but now with the cars being significantly different, manufacturers will claim that one brand has the edge over the other.

They will lobby NASCAR for more downforce or horsepower or another change they think will help their brand.

How much they ask for — and how much NASCAR listens — will be interesting. While it can be viewed that those that whine the most get the benefit from a rules change, NASCAR also can’t just ignore concerns.

7

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Is Clint Bowyer still mad at Jeff Gordon?

This rivalry was unsettled at the end of last year as Bowyer still wasn’t talking to Gordon after Gordon wrecked him on purpose in the next-to-last race of the season.

Gordon said Bowyer deserved to be wrecked but he didn’t mean for it to be as violent of a wreck when he spun Bowyer.

All Bowyer knows is it ended his slim championship hopes. And that made him mad.

This might be a little bit of hype and maybe time heals all wounds. But this was a pretty deep wound considering it cost Bowyer a shot at the championship.

We’ll see if Bowyer has remained mad when he gets around Gordon on the track or off the track this week.